1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a binding device that binds papers ejected from a digital output device such as a printer and a copier by finishing them, and more particularly to a tape feeder and a method of controlling the same in which a binding tape can automatically and manually be fed to the binding device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An example of a conventional binding device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-301504. The conventional binding device will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.
The conventional binding device 1 includes a paper processing unit 5, a paper carriage 2, a tape feeder 6, a tape heating unit 7, and a receiving stacker 8. The paper processing unit 5 is provided with a paper aligning unit 3 and a binding unit 4. The paper carriage 2 includes an inlet 9a and an outlet 9b. A plurality of rollers 10 are provided between the inlet 9a and the outlet 9b. A flapper 13 is provided at the inlet 9a so that papers are flapped to a paper carriage path 14 when binding papers. The papers flapped to the paper carriage path 14 by the flapper 13 are conveyed to the paper aligning unit 3. The paper aligning unit 3 includes a tray 16 receiving papers, an aligning paddle 18 aligning conveyed papers, a stop finger 19 putting the papers in a standby state, and a paper clamp 15 gripping the papers aligned in the stop finger 19 and moving them to the tape heating unit 7.
The stop finger 19 and the paper clamp 16 are designed to grip the papers stacked on the tray 16 to move them to the tape heating unit 7. Once the papers are moved to the tape heating unit 7, the papers are subject to the binding process so that a tape fed from the tape feeder 6 is adhered to the sections and sides of the papers. The paper clamp 15 moves the bound papers to the binding carriage 4 and returns to the position where it first grips the papers. The bound papers are then stacked on the receiving stacker 8 by the binding carriage 4.
In the aforementioned binding device, the tape feeder 6 and the tape heating unit 7 will be described in more detail.
The tape heating unit 7 includes a tape guide 26, a center heater 27, and a driving gear 30 driving the center heater 27. The tape guide 26 is fed with the tape 32 from the tape feeder 6 before the papers aligned by the paper aligning unit 3 are moved to the tape heating unit 7.
The tape feeder 6 includes a tape reel R1, a tape cutter 33, and a tape moving means 34. The tape wound in the tape reel R1 is cut by the tape cutter 33 at a predetermined length and is moved to a carriage C by the tape moving means 34. The tape 32 is fed to the tape guide 26 by the tape moving means 34.
Afterwards, the center heater 27 is moved from the standby position (not shown) to the heating position by the driving gear 30, and the tape 32 starts to be preheated.
Once the section of the papers aligned by the paper aligning unit 3 is carried to a contact position H of the center heater 27, as shown in FIG. 4, the section and the side of the papers 35 are bound by the tape 32.
Once the binding process is finished by adhering the section of the papers to the tape, the bound papers are passed from the contact position H of the center heater to the binding carriage 4 by the paper aligning unit 3 and then moved to the receiving stacker 8. The tape guide 26 and the center heater 27 return to the original standby position by means of their respective driving gears 30 and 31. Since the tape feeder 6 of the aforementioned conventional binding device is structured to have the tape 32 wound in the reel R1, the reel requires a large space (volume) and the complicated step such as fixing the tape to the reel R1 is required. Also, there is convenience that the tape is reset by stopping the operation of the binding device to change the color of the tape. For example, supposing that ten volumes of papers are bound with ten colored tapes, the tape should be reset ten times to change the color. This could lead to deteriorate efficiency of the process. Further, when some characters are required to be printed on the tape as the case may be, the complicated printing process is required. If the characters should be printed on the tape while changing the color of the tape for each unit of binding papers, it is difficult to bind the papers with the conventional reel type tape. When the binding process is performed by setting the tape to be automatically fed to the binding device, there is a structural problem that it is difficult to bind the papers for each unit by adding another tape.
To solve such problems, in the present invention, automatic feeding tapes cut in advance are stacked on a stack cassette and are fed to the tape feeder one by one through a tape moving path. The tape moving path is provided with a manual feeding tape slot. The moving priority of the automatic feeding tape and the manual feeding tape is determined by a signal of a tape feeding sensor provided in the tape feeder.
To set the cut automatic feeding tapes to be stacked on the stack cassette, the method of feeding the automatic feeding tape one by one without any error should be preceded. As shown in FIG. 3, since a solid type additive 32a changed to liquid state when it is heated at a predetermined temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. is adhered to the tape 32 used for the binding device, the additive 32a causes friction among the stacked automatic feeding tapes. In this case, the automatic feeding tape is not likely to be slid and taken out from the stack cassette, thereby resulting in feeding error of the tape.
In the present invention, to avoid such error, once a dividing motor of the automatic feeding tape is operated, a first pinion roller and a second pinion roller are simultaneously rotated so that the pinion of the roller pushes the automatic feeding tape to move it to a frictional pad. The frictional pad includes a frictional surface that passes only one automatic feeding tape pushed by the pinion roller and a spring that pressurizes the frictional surface toward the automatic feeding tape.
The tape that had passed through the frictional pad is moved to the tape heating unit through the tape feeder, and the manual feeding tape is selectively fed to the tape heating unit.